A intriguing tale of Metis buffalo hunts, a long-lost daughter, and a macabre secret. Big John McTavish has been hunting and trading among the Metis buffalo hunters of the Red River Valley for more than thirty years. He's a trusted member of the half-breed nation, and a leader of the mixed-bloods' twice-yearly buffalo hunts. However, when he returns to the settlements in the fall of 1832 with a mountain man he's rescued from a Chippewa war party, he has no way of knowing the chain of events the outsider is about to unleash on the unsuspecting hunters, or the kind of destruction that will follow them onto the buffalo ranges that border the lonely Missouri River. Before the hunters return to their homes along the river, Big John will learn the macabre secret that has brought the trapper from the far reaches of the Rocky Mountains. He will discover a daughter he thought he'd lost forever, and relive the horror that took her away. And the Metis will come to realize that if they are to survive as an independent nation, they must forever free themselves of the influence not only of the powerful Hudson Bay Company, but also of the man they have viewed as their friend for more than a quarter of a century."